BALTIMORE, MD – In a game that saw the 10th-ranked Syracuse and second-ranked Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse teams combine for five three-goal runs, it was the Orange that scored two of the final three goals of the game to slip past the Blue Jays, 12-10, at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. Syracuse, which led by four on two different occasions, improves to 4-2 with its second straight win, while the Blue Jays had a season-opening five-game winning streak snapped and slip to 5-1.

Syracuse led 3-1 and 7-3 in the first half and carried a 10-6 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Blue Jays needed just six seconds of the final period to score as sophomore Ryan Brown’s sixth goal of the day came after Drew Kennedy won the faceoff cleanly and found Brandon Benn, who skipped a pass to Brown on the back side and Brown shoveled one past Dominic Lamolinara to make it 10-7.

It took Brown and the Blue Jays less than two more minutes to complete their second three-goal run of the game as Brown fired one into an open net from midfield and then scored his eighth of the game off a nifty pass from sophomoreConnor Reed to make it 10-9.

The Orange, as they did throughout the game, answered as Nick Weston fired a 10-yarder past Johns Hopkins goalieEric Schneider after Billy Ward’s skip pass from the opposite goal line eluded the Blue Jay defense. Weston’s goal came with the stall warning on.

When the Blue Jays got a goal from sophomore Holden Cattoni just 48 seconds later, and with junior Drew Kennedy dominating the game on faceoffs, the Blue Jays appeared to have the momentum with just over nine minutes remaining.

Two key turnovers for Johns Hopkins, one in the offensive zone with just over five minutes to play and another on a failed clear after a Schneider save with just more than three minutes on the clock, proved crucial and the Orange eventually got the insurance goal when Dylan Donahue isolated behind the goal and got just far enough above the goal line before firing one to the top shelf to account for the final scoring.

Syracuse threatened to put the game away early as Brown’s first of the game less than two minutes in was answered by Kevin Rice, Scott Loy and Donahue to give SU a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Brown and freshman Nick Fields sandwiched goals around a Ward strike in the first five minute of the second quarter before Loy, Dylan Maltz and Henry Schoonmaker struck for unassisted goals in the final 7:05 of the second quarter to give the Orange a 7-3 halftime lead.

After winning 8-of-11 first-half faceoffs, Kennedy went to work early in the third quarter to fuel a three-goal run that pulled the Blue Jays within 7-6 less than six minutes into the second half. All three goals were scored by Brown, including an extra-man tally off an assist from John Crawleythat made it a one-goal game with 9:13 left in the period.

The one-goal deficit was four just over five minutes later as Ward jump-started SU’s third three-goal run of the game as he had time and room to unload off an assist from Loy and he fed Donahue in the slot for another goal two minutes later to make it 9-6. When defenseman Matt Harris scored on a fastbreak off a quick outlet from Lamolinara a short time later, it appeared the Orange were safe with the 10-6 lead entering the final period.

Brown’s three-goal flurry to open the fourth quarter gave the Blue Jays a chance late, but they never pulled even after falling behind 2-1 early and Weston and Donahue’s strikes in the final 10:26 proved to be the difference.

Brown’s eight goals are one shy of the Johns Hopkins single-game record of nine. William Logan holds the record with a nine-goal effort in a 13-1 win against Virginia on April 2, 1927. Stanwick added two assists and Kennedy finished 21-of-25 on faceoffs with a career-high 15 ground balls; Kennedy’s 21 faceoff wins are also a career high.

A balanced Syracuse attack was paced by Donahue, who totaled three goals and one assist. Loy and Ward both scored twice and eight different players found the back of the net for SU, which also got 11 saves from Lamolinara and committed just seven turnovers in the game.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, March 22 when the Blue Jays travel to Charlottesville to take on Virginia.

Notes: Ryan Brown has 16 goals and 20 points in his last three games • JHU was 2-for-2 on extra-man chances and is now 7-of-14 on the year • The Blue Jays’ nation-best six-game winning streak came to a halt with today’s loss.

The Game: Johns Hopkins (5-0) returns home and welcomes Syracuse (3-2) to Homewood Field for a nationally-televised game against the Orange.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins improved to 5-0 on the year with a 15-8 victory at UMBC last Saturday.
Syracuse moved its record to 3-2 on the year with a 14-8 victory against St. John’s. The win over the Red Storm snapped a two-game losing streak for the Orange.

Series History: Johns Hopkins and Syracuse are meeting for the 52nd time in a series that dates to a meeting in 1921 that ended in a 4-4 tie. Johns Hopkins leads the all-time series 27-23-1, although Syracuse has won six of the last seven meetings.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Syracuse with an all-time record of 938-303-15 (.753). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked second in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and third in the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Syracuse enters this week’s game at Johns Hopkins ranked 10th in the coaches poll and 10th in the media poll.

Closing on Mr. Scott: Dave Pietramala picked up his 152nd victory as the head coach at Johns Hopkins with last week’s 15-8 victory at UMBC and he continues to close in on the record for most career coaching victories at Homewood. Only Bob Scott, who won 158 games as the head coach at JHU from 1955-74, has won or coached (214) more games than Pietramala at Johns Hopkins.

Career Win Number 175: In addition to notching his 152nd victory as the head coach at Johns Hopkins with last week’s win against UMBC, Dave Pietramala also reached a milestone as the win against the Retrievers was the 175th of his coaching career. In addition to his 152-50 (.752) mark as the head coach at JHU, Pietramala also postd a 23-17 record in three seasons as the head coach at Cornell and now boasts an overall record of 175-67 (.723). Pietramala’s 175 wins rank 10th among active Division I coaches.

About 5-0: Johns Hopkins is 5-0 for the second time in three years and the fourth time under head coach Dave Pietramala. The Blue Jays previously started 5-0 under Pietramala in 2004, 2005 and 2012. The 2004 team dropped its sixth game (9-8 in overtime at Virginia), while the 2005 and 2012 teams both won their sixth games. The 2005 team went on to finish 16-0, while the 2012 team eventually moved to 8-0 before suffering its first loss.

New Blue: The Johns Hopkins lineup features six new starters after a large senior class departed Homewood last spring. The six are spread throughout the lineup and include Eric Schneider (G), Rob Enright (D), John Kelly (D), Bronson Kelly(M), Connor Reed (M) and Ryan Brown (A). Brown did start four games at midfield last season, but made the move to his natural attack position this season, and Enright had five career starts through his first two seasons.

New Blue II: In addition to the six new starters in the lineup, the overall Blue Jay roster is also vastly different than a year ago. Gone are 11 seniors who exhausted their eligibility and in their place are 17 freshmen.

Youth Will be Served: Johns Hopkins is fielding one of the youngest rosters in the nation this season as 17 of the team’s 49 players are freshmen and 29 are either freshmen or sophomores. Only nine of the 49 are seniors and two of those nine - Eric Schneider and Phil Castronova - have an extra year of eligibility and are planning to return for the 2015 season.

For Starters: Entering the 2014 season, the entire 49-man Johns Hopkins roster counted a total of 132 combined career starts to its credit. Of those 132, Rob Guida (38), Jack Reilly (30), Brandon Benn (29) and Wells Stanwick (17) accounted 114, or 86.7%. No other returning player had started more than five games for the Blue Jays. By contrast, last year’s 11-man senior class graduated with a combined 321 starts with six of those 11 players earning 45 or more starts during their careers.

An Offensive Group: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Syracuse averaging 13.8 goals per game and the Blue Jays have scored 14 or more goals in each of their last four games. JHU ranks eighth in the nation in scoring offense and has scored 14 or more goals in four straight games for the first time since 2003, when the Blue Jays scored 14+ in seven straight games late in the season. Ironically, a key member of that 2003 offense was current offensive coordinator Bobby Benson, who led the team in goals with 41 that season.

Must be the Speech: There must be something about the speech that head coach Dave Pietramala gives before the Blue Jays take the field at the start of the game and at halftime. For the year, Johns Hopkins holds a 21-10 scoring advantage in the first quarter and a 22-11 scoring margin in the third quarter. In the second and fourth quarters, JHU is a combined +7 in scoring margin (25-18).

Schneider, Defense Growing: While the offense has grabbed a majority of the headlines this season, the Blue Jay defense has been consistent thus far as well. Johns Hopkins is currently tied for eighth in the nation in scoring defense and has held all five of its opponents to nine goals or less. Eric Schneider continues to impress in goal as he sports a 7.33 goals against average and a .622 save percentage.

Attack Driven: Johns Hopkins’ starting attack unit of senior Brandon Benn, junior Wells Stanwick and sophomore Ryan Brown will be counted on to lead the way offensively for the Blue Jays this season and the trio has been up to the task thus far. They have combined for at least four goals and nine points in all five games this season, with 11 goals against UMBC and nine goals against both Towson and Princeton. The trio has a pair of 16-point games to its credit (Towosn, UMBC) and a 14-point effort as well (Princeton). Kennedy Shines: Junior Drew Kennedy has gotten off to a quick start at the X for the Blue Jays as he is 72-of-111 (.649) through five games and also has a team-high 49 ground balls thus far. He ranks fourth in the nation in faceoff winning percentage and tied for first in ground balls per game (9.8) after winning 18-of-26 faceoffs with 12 ground balls in last week’s win against UMBC.
Kennedy won 18-of-22 (.818) faceoffs in the season opener against Ohio State and came back and won 16-of-23 with 10 ground balls against Towson. After winning just 1-of-6 in the first quarter, he was 15-of-17 over the final three quarters against the Tigers.

Second-Longest Game in School History: The triple overtime game against Ohio State in the season-opener ranks as the second-longest game in the history of the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program. The longest game in school history was a four-overtime game against Virginia on March 24, 2001.

In Overtime: Johns Hopkins improved to 20-10 all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala with the 10-9 triple overtime victory against Ohio State. The Blue Jays have now won four of their last five overtime games dating back to late in the 2011 season.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays are ranked second in this week’s USILA Preseason Coaches Poll. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to represent JHU’s official ranking at the time of a game. Prior to falling out of the top 20 of the USILA Poll on April 26 and May 3, 2010 (JHU was receiving votes in both polls), the Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 20 in 367 consecutive polls dating back to the first poll in 1973.

Two very important things here. One, the appropriate St. Patty’s Day meal is NOT Corned Beef and Cabbage. It’s this.

Two-A reminder that after NFS star Aaron Paul (perhaps you’ve heard of him) finished his interview with us at the Super Bowl, he came back by the table to tell us it was his favorite one of the year. He personally thanked me. Because we’re best friends.

PRINCETON, NJ – The visiting Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team used an 8-1 run that bridged the second and third quarters to turn a 4-4 tie into a 12-5 advantage and the fifth-ranked Blue Jays never let 10th-ranked Princeton get closer than four in the final 20 minutes of the game in a 15-9 victory at Class of 1952 Stadium Saturday afternoon. The win, Johns Hopkins’ fourth straight at Princeton, improves the Blue Jays record to 4-0 on the year, while the Tigers slip to 2-1 with the loss.

A spirited first quarter that included 19 shots, eight goals and four Princeton extra-man chances ended the same way it began; tied (4-4). From there, the Blue Jays took control with the 8-1 run that included goals from five different players and gave them what proved to be the insurmountable seven-goal lead.

It took less than three minutes of the second quarter for the Blue Jays to turn the 4-4 tie into a 6-4 lead as sophomoreHolden Cattoni and junior Wells Stanwick netted unassisted goals to give the Blue Jays the two-goal lead. A Mike MacDonald goal three minutes after Stanwick’s goal trimmed the deficit to 6-5, but a three-goal Hopkins run over the final 7:47 of the half gave the Blue Jays a 9-5 lead at intermission.

Stanwick completed his first-half hat trick to jump-start the three-goal spree as Ryan Brown found him on the backside after a quick restart and Rob Guida got his hands free just over a minute later to make it 8-5. When Connor Reed dodged from the top of the box and scored with four seconds left in the first half the Blue Jays had their 9-5 lead.

Any hopes for a quick Princeton spurt to close the deficit in the third quarter were gone less than three minutes into the second half as Guida and Brown both scored early to push the lead to 11-5 and Brandon Benn extended his goal-scoring streak to 20 games four minutes after Brown’s goal to make it 12-5.

Princeton finally made its inevitable run late in the third quarter when senior midfielder Tom Schreiber sandwiched goals around a Ryan Ambler strike to make it 12-8 at the end of period. The Tigers got their three goals in a span of just under four minutes.

As they had in each of the first three quarters, the Blue Jays scored in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter and actually got a pair less than a minute apart as Brown’s fourth of the game and an unassisted goal by freshman Cody Radziewicz extended the lead to 14-8 with just under 13 minutes on the clock. A Justin Murphy goal seven seconds after the Radziewicz strike and Brown’s career-high fifth of the game closed out the scoring before seven minutes elapsed in the final period.

Brown added three assists to his career-high five goals for a personal best eight points in the victory. Stanwick added three goals and two assists and Guida (2g, 2a) and Reed (2g, 1a) also registered multi-point games. Junior Drew Kennedy was 16-of-28 on faceoffs and grabbed 10 ground balls.

Schreiber paced the Tigers with three goals and Ambler added two goals and three assists, but the Tigers scored on just five of 25 shots over the final three quarters and scored consecutive goals just once over the final 54 minutes of the game in falling for the first time this season.

Notes: Johns Hopkins’ starting attack combined for nine goals and five assists; Princeton’s starting attack combined for two goals and three assists • Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala is now one win shy of career victory number 174 • The visiting team has now won six consecutive games in the Johns Hopkins-Princeton series (in games played on campus).

BALTIMORE, MD – The eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team jumped out to a 9-1 halftime lead and had 11 different players score as the Blue Jays eased past visiting Michigan, 14-5, at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays improve to 3-0 on the year, while the Wolverines slip to 2-2.

The win was the 150th for Dave Pietramala as the head coach at Johns Hopkins and it came in his 200th game as the head coach at Homewood. He is now 150-50 as the head coach at Johns Hopkins and 173-67 overall.

Hopkins sprinted out to a 6-0 lead after the opening 15 minutes as five different players found the back of the net. Junior Michael Pellegrino’s transition goal opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game and JHU added five more goals on 13 first-quarter shots to push out to the early six-goal lead.

Junior Wells Stanwick assisted on Pellegrino’s goal, added a strike of his own four minutes later and got the helper on Brandon Benn’s second goal of the quarter in the final minute to fuel the early run, which also included unassisted goals from midfielders Bronson Kelly and John Crawley.

Doug Bryant broke a game-opening Wolverine scoring drought that reached more than 21 minutes when he fired home an unassisted goal at the 9:21 mark of the second quarter, but a three-goal Blue Jay run that took less than two minutes midway through the period effectively put the game away. A pair of Holden Cattoni goals, including one while the Blue Jays were on the extra-man, and a strike from senior midfielder Rob Guida accounted for JHU’s second-quarter scoring and gave JHU the eight-goal halftime lead.

Michigan eventually outshot the Blue Jays 41-36, but the Blue Jay defense did a great job of pushing the Wolverines to their off-hand and tough angles. Senior goalie Eric Schneider posted eight of his career-high 20 saves in the first half as the Blue Jays built their lead. Schneider’s 20 saves are the most by a Johns Hopkins player since Pierce Bassett had 20 in a win against then eighth-ranked Loyola on May 8, 2010.

The Blue Jays nearly matched their three-goal second-quarter run with a three-goal flurry in the third quarter that took just under three minutes and included Guida’s second and goals by sophomore Ryan Brown and freshman Cody Radziewicz. Guida’s goal with just over 10 minutes remaining gave the Blue Jays a 12-1 lead.

Michigan won the statistical battle over the final 20 minutes of the game and outscored the Blue Jays 4-2 over that span to account for the 14-5 final score. David McCormack, David Joseph and Kyle Jackson scored unassisted goals during that time for the Wolverines and Peter Kraus assisted on a Riley Kennedy goal for the Wolverines, who fired off 27 of their 41 shots in the second half.

Benn, Guida and Cattoni all scored twice for the Blue Jays, who also got the one goal and three assists from Stanwick.

The Blue Jay defense held Michigan’s starting attack and first midfield to a combined two goals and no assists on 18 shots. Sophomore Brad Lott had a great day on faceoffs for the Wolverines as he was 14-of-23 and added nine ground balls.

Notes: Johns Hopkins is 3-0 for the fifth straight year and the sixth time in the last seven years • JHU improved to 20-3 all-time in the month of February • Benn’s two goals extended his goal-scoring streak to 19 games.

The Game: Johns Hopkins closes a season-opening three-game home stand by welcoming Michigan to Homewood Field. Faceoff is set for noon on Saturday, February 22.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins improved to 2-0 with a 15-8 win against local rival Towson at Homewood Field last Saturday.
Michigan improved its record to 2-1 on the year with a 14-13 overtime victory at Detroit on Wednesday night. The Wolverines have won two straight entering this week’s game against Johns Hopkins.

Series History: Johns Hopkins and Michigan are meeting for just the second time. The Blue Jays took a 17-8 decision in the first meeting last season at Homewood Field.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Michigan with an all-time record of 935-303-15 (.752). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked eighth in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and eighth in the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse Media Preseason Poll. Michigan is not ranked in either poll.

In Search of 150: Dave Pietramala enters this week’s game against Michigan with a record of 149-50 in 14 seasons as the head coach at Johns Hopkins. With a win this week he will join Hall of Famer Bob Scott as the only coaches in Johns Hopkins history to reach the 150-win mark. Scott won 158 games during his tenure from 1955-74.

Number 200: This week’s game against Michigan will be the 200th for Dave Pietramala as the head coach at Johns Hopkins.

Second Big Ten Game: Well, kind of. This week’s game against Michigan is the second of three games this season the Blue Jays will play against future Big Ten opponents. Johns Hopkins announced last June that it would join the Big Ten for men’s lacrosse starting with the 2015 season. In addition to the game against the Wolverines, the Blue Jays opened the season against Ohio State and will host Maryland, also a future Big Ten opponent, later this season.

In February: Including the wins over Ohio State and Towson, Johns Hopkins has played just 21 all-time games in the month of February and the Blue Jays are 18-3 in those 21 games. With last week’s victory against the Tigers, the Blue Jays have currently won 14 straight games played in the month of February.

New Blue: Johns Hopkins entered the season with six new starters after a large senior class departed Homewood last spring. The six are spread throughout the lineup and include Eric Schneider (G), Rob Enright (D), John Kelly (D),Bronson Kelly (M), Connor Reed (M) and Ryan Brown (A). Brown did start four games at midfield last season, but makes the move to his natural attack position this season, and Enright had five career starts through his first two seasons.

New Blue II: In addition to the six new starters in the lineup, the overall Blue Jay roster is also vastly different than a year ago. Gone are 11 seniors who exhausted their eligibility and in their place are 17 freshmen.

Youth Will be Served: Johns Hopkins will field one of the youngest rosters in the nation this season as 17 of the team’s 49 players are freshmen and 29 are either freshmen or sophomores. Only nine of the 49 are seniors and two of those nine - Eric Schneider and Phil Castronova - have an extra year of eligibility and are planning to return for the 2015 season.

For Starters: Entering the 2014 season, the entire 49-man Johns Hopkins roster counted a total of 132 combined career starts to its credit. Of those 132, Rob Guida (38), Jack Reilly (30), Brandon Benn (29) and Wells Stanwick (17) accounted 114, or 86.7%. No other returning player had started more than five games for the Blue Jays. By contrast, last year’s 11-man senior class graduated with a combined 321 starts with six of those 11 players earning 45 or more starts during their careers.

Class Rank: The Blue Jays have gotten balanced production from each of their four classes through two games. Each class has registered at least six points thus far, with the junior (14 points) and sophomore (13 points) classes leading the way. The senior (7), sophomore (9) and freshman (6) classes all have at least six goals through two games.

What it Means in 2014: Despite the loss of the large senior class from last season, the Blue Jays return 67.7% of their goals (109-of-161), 45.7% of their assists (42-of-92) and 59.7% of their points (151-of-253) from last season.

Must be the Speech: There must be something about the speech that head coach Dave Pietramala gives at halftime that is sparking the Blue Jays. Johns Hopkins was tied with Ohio State at the half (2-2) and led Towson by one (6-5), but the Blue Jays outscored the Buckeyes 6-3 in the third quarter and took that up a notch against the Tigers by outscoring TU 7-1 to put the game away.

Attack Driven: Johns Hopkins’ starting attack unit of senior Brandon Benn, junior Wells Stanwick and sophomore Ryan Brown will be counted on to lead the way offensively for the Blue Jays this season and the trio has been up to the task thus far as they combined for five goals and seven assists to fuel the 10-9 triple-overtime victory against Ohio State and added nine goals and seven assists against Towson.
Stanwick totaled one goal and a career-high-tying five assists in both games, while Benn totaled two goals and one assist in the opener and four goals on just four shots against the Tigers.
Brown, who moved to attack this season after playing midfield as a freshman, also had two goals and one assist against the Buckeyes and added a career-high four goals and two assists for a personal-best six points against Towson.

Kennedy Shines: Junior Drew Kennedy has gotten off to a quick start at the X for the Blue Jays as he is 34-of-45 (.756) through two games and also has a team-high 23 ground balls thus far.
Despite missing most of the preseason, Kennedy suited up and fueled Johns Hopkins’ win against Ohio State with a dominating performance as he was 18-of-22 (.818) and grabbed 13 ground balls in the victory. The 18 faceoff wins and 13 GBs are all career highs. In addition, Kennedy’s 18 faceoff wins are the most by a Johns Hopkins player since Mike Poppleton was 20 (of 26) against Stony Brook in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
He came back and won 16-of-23 with 10 ground balls against Towson. After winning just 1-of-6 in the first quarter, he was 15-of-17 over the final three quarters against the Tigers.

Crawley Explodes: Freshman John Crawley scored a key goal in the season opener against Ohio State before exploding for four goals on five shots against Towson. Crawley, whose five goals through two games are just one shy of Brandon Benn and Ryan Brown’s team-leading six, is the first Johns Hopkins freshman midfielder to score four goals in a game since Paul Rabil scored four times in a 12-11 come-from-behind win at Syracuse on March 18, 2005.

Second-Longest Game in School History: The triple overtime game against Ohio State in the season-openerranks as the second-longest game in the history of the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program. The longest game in school history was a four-overtime game against Virginia on March 24, 2001.

In Overtime: Johns Hopkins improved to 20-10 all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala with the 10-9 triple overtime victory against Ohio State. The Blue Jays have now won four of their last five overtime games dating back to late in the 2011 season.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays are ranked eighth in this week’s USILA Preseason Coaches Poll. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to represent JHU’s official ranking at the time of a game. Prior to falling out of the top 20 of the USILA Poll on April 26 and May 3, 2010 (JHU was receiving votes in both polls), the Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 20 in 367 consecutive polls dating back to the first poll in 1973.

BALTIMORE, MD – The 11th-ranked Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team got four goals from senior Brandon Benn, sophomore Ryan Brown and freshman John Crawley and one goal and five assists from junior Wells Stanwick as the Blue Jays powered past visiting Towson, 15-8, at blustery Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays move to 2-0 on the year with the win, while the Tigers slips to 1-1.

The Tigers led 5-3 after Greg Cuccinello scored three straight goals for Towson to cap a 4-0 run that bridged the first and second quarters and took jut over seven minutes.

Brown answered with the first of his four goals just 45 seconds after Cuccinello completed his first-half hat trick and that ignited a 10-1 Blue Jay run that extended through the end of the third quarter.

Stanwick and Brown added unassisted goals 76 seconds apart shortly after Brown’s initial goal to give the Blue Jays a 6-5 lead at the half, but Towson’s Max Siskind drew the Tigers even just over a minute into the third quarter when he took a pass from Ryan Drenner and dipped inside his defender just above the goal line and scored from in tight. From there, it was all Johns Hopkins.

Brown completed his hat trick just over a minute after Siskind scored and Crawley dodged from behind the goal on consecutive possessions and scored both times to give the Blue Jays their first three-goal lead at 9-6.

Six days ago the Blue Jays scored six times in the third quarter of a 10-9 triple overtime win against Ohio State. This week, Brown’s strike and Crawley’s pair jump-started a seven-goal third quarter for the Blue Jays, who got another goal from Brown and one each from Holden Cattoni, Benn and freshman Kieran Eissler before the end of the period to push the lead to 13-6 entering the fourth quarter. Stanwick assisted on Brown’s first goal of the quarter and the goals by Benn and Eissler. Eissler’s goal was the first of his career.

Mike Lowe and Cuccinello sandwiched goals around two more Benn strikes in the fourth quarter as the Blue Jays put the finishing touches on their 19th consecutive victory over the Tigers.

A seven-goal Johns Hopkins victory was the last thing anyone at Homewood Field thought they’d see early on as Towson dug out of an early 2-0 hole (courtesy of Crawley’s first two goals in the opening seven minutes) with a 5-1 run that bridged the first and second quarters and covered exactly 12 minutes.

Freshman Joe Seider ripped one home from 12 yards to slice the 2-0 deficit in half, only to have Benn answer with an extra-man goal late in the first quarter. Junior Justin Mabus again made it a one goal game when he split a pair of defenders and beat Blue Jay goalie Eric Schneider from six yards out to make it 3-2 Johns Hopkins at the end of the first quarter.

The one-goal Blue Jay lead was a two-goal deficit 6:01 into the second quarter as Cuccinello scored twice in a 41-second span early in the quarter and then picked the far post at the 8:59 mark to give the Tigers the 5-3 lead. The 3-0 Blue Jay run to end the first half followed shortly after and set the stage for the pivotal third quarter, which saw the Blue Jays hold decisive advantages in goals (7-1), shots (21-2), ground balls (12-4) and faceoffs (8-1).

Crawley is the first Johns Hopkins freshman midfielder to score four goals in a game since Paul Rabil had four in a 12-11 overtime victory at Syracuse on March 18, 2005. Brown’s four goal and six points were both career highs, while Stanwick matched his career high with five assists for the second consecutive game. The four goals for Benn mark his eight career four-goal game.

Towson got an early spark from faceoff specialist Conor Pequigney, who won 5-of-6 faceoffs in the first quarter, but Johns Hopkins’ Drew Kennedy rebounded from the slow start and won 16-of-23 faceoffs and added 10 ground balls in the victory.

Cuccinello led the Tigers with his four goals and Drenner added three assists, but Seider and Thomas DeNapoli, who combined for seven goals and two assists in Towson’s 11-8 win over High Point in the season opener, were held to a combined one goal and two assists. Despite the loss, sophomore goalie Tyler White was strong in goal for the Tigers as he posted 18 saves.

Notes: Johns Hopkins is 62-8 all-time under head coach Dave Pietramala against teams from the state of Maryland • The Blue Jays are now 18-3 all-time in games played in the month of February • 10 of JHU’s 15 goals today were scored by freshmen and sophomores and 15 of JHU’s 25 goals through two games have been scored by members of those classes.

The Game: Johns Hopkins opens the 2014 men’s lacrosse season by welcoming Ohio State to Homewood Field. Faceoff is set for 11:30 am with a live national television audience on ESPNU.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins posted a 9-5 record and finished the 2013 season ranked 14th by the USILA (final regular season poll) and 17th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Ohio State enjoyed one of the finest seasons in school history as the Buckeyes finished 13-4, won the ECAC Championship and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals.

Series History: This week’s game between Johns Hopkins and Ohio State will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two teams. The previous four games took place between 1999-2002 with Blue Jays winning all four. The first three of those four wins came at Homewood Field and the last came in Columbus. In the 12-9 win at Ohio State on April 6, 2002, current Blue Jay offensive coordinator Bobby Benson totaled five goals and two assists to lead the way for the Blue Jays.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the 2014 season with an all-time record of 933-303-15 (.752). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins opens the 2014 season ranked 11th in the USILA Preseason Coaches Poll and 13th in the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Ohio State enters the season ranked 14th in the coaches poll and ninth in the media poll.

For Openers: Johns Hopkins is 11-2 under head coach Dave Pietramala in season-openers with six of the 13 games being decided by three goals or less.

In February: Johns Hopkins has played just 19 all-time games in the month of February and the Blue Jays are 16-3 in those 19 games. The Blue Jays have currently won 12 straight games played in the month of February.

First Big Ten Game: Well, kind of. This week’s game against Ohio State will be the first of three games this season the Blue Jays will play against future Big Ten opponents. Johns Hopkins announced last June that it would join the Big Ten for men’s lacrosse starting with the 2015 season. The Blue Jays will also take on Michigan and Maryland, both future Big Ten opponents, later this season.

New Blue: Johns Hopkins enters the season with six new starters after a large senior class departed Homewood last spring. The six are spread throughout the lineup and include Eric Schneider (G), Rob Enright/John Kelly/Nick Fields (two of the three with start on D), Bronson Kelly (M), Connor Reed (M) and Ryan Brown (A). Brown did start four games at midfield last season, but makes the move to his natural attack position this season.

New Blue II: In addition to the six new starters in the lineup, the overall Blue Jay roster is also vastly different than a year ago. Gone are 11 seniors who exhausted their eligibility and in their place are 17 freshmen.

Youth Will be Served: Johns Hopkins will field one of the youngest rosters in the nation this season as 17 of the team’s 49 players are freshmen and 29 are either freshmen or sophomores. Only nine of the 49 are seniors and two of those nine - Eric Schneider and Phil Castronova - have an extra year of eligibility and are planning to return for the 2015 season.

Class Rank: Despite a heavy turnover to the roster, the Blue Jays do return key contributors to an offense that averaged 11.5 goals per game last season. Each returning class contributed at least 23 goals and 31 points last year. Below is a breakdown of JHU’s scoring by returning class:

What it Means in 2014: With the above breakdown of goals, assists and points in mind, the Blue Jays return 67.7% of their goals (109-of-161), 45.7% of their assists (42-of-92) and 59.7% of their points (151-of-253) from last season.

For Starters: The entire 49-man Johns Hopkins roster counts a total of 132 combined career starts to its credit. Of those 132, Rob Guida (38), Jack Reilly (30), Brandon Benn (29) and Wells Stanwick (17) account 114, or 86.7%. No other returning player has started more than five games for the Blue Jays. By contrast, last year’s 11-man senior class graduated with a combined 321 starts with six of those 11 players earning 45 or more starts during their careers.

Attack Driven: Johns Hopkins’ tentative starting attack unit of senior Brandon Benn, junior Wells Stanwick and sophomore Ryan Brown will be counted on to lead the way offensively for the Blue Jays this season. The trio combined for 75 goals and 28 assists last season, with Stanwick leading the team in points (47) and assists (23) and Benn pacing the team in goals (34). The trio also combined for 20 of Johns Hopkins’ 27 extra-man goals on the year.

Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala announced a change in the Blue Jays’ 2014 schedule today. The Johns Hopkins-Michigan game, originally scheduled for February 22, 2014 at Michigan, will now be played at Homewood Field (noon). Television plans for the game have not been announced at this point.

The game cannot be played at Michigan Stadium as originally agreed upon and a decision to move the game to Homewood Field was made by Pietramala and Michigan head coach John Paul.

BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins University men’s lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala announced today that senior midfielder Rob Guida (Chatham, NJ/Chatham), senior short stick defensive midfielder James Malm (Alexandria, VA/Woodberry Forest) and junior long stick midfielder Michael Pellegrino (Oakdale, NY/Connetquot) have been selected in a vote of their teammates as captains for the 2014 season. This is the first time any of the three have served as a captain.

Guida has started all 38 games he has played in since arriving at Johns Hopkins, including all 16 as a freshman and sophomore; he missed eight games last season with injury. He earned Second Team USILA All-American honors as a sophomore and counts career totals of 32 goals and 16 assists for 48 points to his credit. A key member of the Blue Jays’ extra-man unit, Guida also excels on the wing on faceoffs and, despite missing more than half of the 2013 season, has started more games than any returning player on the team.

Malm has played in 27 games during his career, including 24 in the last two seasons. He totaled two assists and seven ground balls last season and was part of a defense that allowed just 7.79 goals per game and held 10 of 14 opponents to nine goals or less. The Blue Jays tied for third in the nation in scoring defense in 2013 and finished seventh in 2012.

The first junior to serve as a team captain at Johns Hopkins since Jake Byrne in 2006, Pellegrino has played in 29 games during his career. One of the most tenacious long stick midfielders the Blue Jays have had since Pietramala arrived in 2001, Pellegrino counts two goals, three assists, 71 ground balls and 25 caused turnovers to his credit. He is adept at jump-starting the Blue Jays’ transition game and has been a key member of a unit that has ranked among the top 10 in the nation in scoring defense in each of the last two years.

The trio will officially lead the team for the first time this weekend, as Johns Hopkins will conclude its fall season on Sunday, October 13 by welcoming Massachusetts, Rutgers and Fairfield to Homewood Field. Johns Hopkins will scrimmage UMass (9 am) and Fairfield (3 pm) with additional scrimmages scheduled for 11 am (UMass-Rutgers) and 1 pm (Rutgers-Fairfield). There is no fee to attend the scrimmages at Homewood Field.